Denver lottery for park permits restarted

UPDATE 3:20 p.m.: The protest group Re-Create 68 has announced it will force police to intervene at Civic Center park on the Sunday before the start of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, because the city just awarded a permit for the park on that day to be used by the city's convention host committee.

The blind lottery awarded the permit for Civic Center on Aug. 24 to Jenny Anderson, who is helping the host committee stage more than 40 parties for delegations. R-68 plans to start an anti-war march of, it says, 50,000 people at Civic Center and march to the Pepsi Center where the convention is to be held.

R-68's Glenn Spagnuolo says the group will not change its plans or respect Anderson's permit.

"It's not going to stop the protest from happening," Spagnuolo said, saying the city is "creating a very dangerous situation."

"We're having our protest at Civic Center," Spagnuolo said before banks of cameras. "We're not going to give up our protest to the Democrats."

Host committee spokesman Chris Lopez said plans for use of the park were still being developed. Told of Spagnuolo's challenge, he said: "Re-Create 68 doesn't change our plans."

UPDATE 2 p.m.: Jenny Anderson, a party planner for the Democratic National Convention, won today's random lottery drawing for access to Civic Center Park on Sunday, Aug. 24, the day before the convention opens. Re-create 68, a protest group, objected to that, saying the park should be used for freedom of speech purposes, not private parties.

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Here we go again: Round Two of Denver's effort to issue permits, through a blind lottery, for a dozen centrally located parks during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

The first attempt on Tuesday afternoon collapsed within the first hour after the protest group Re-Create 68 discovered it and several of its affiliates had been excluded from a pile of name cards that were to go into the clear plastic lottery box for a drawing of Civic Center, the park between the Capitol and City Hall that R-68 most wants.

Because R-68 argues that the city's new system is exclude them, Tuesday's error gave them plenty of opportunity for finger wagging.

The city had printed the cards from a database of more than 200 applications, but during the transfer of information, several cards were printed incorrectly and some applicants were omitted. Two main groups - anti-war and anti-abortion interests - have packed the process by having several of their members or affiliates submit applications for the biggest parks. A smaller contingent supporting the war in Iraq have applied for smaller parks.

But mixed among the applicants are the occasion request for a food festival, environmental interests, health care groups and others.

All the groups have to apply for each day they want to be in the park.

Mayoral staff made the cards, spread out on tables, available for viewing at noon for any applicant who wanted to come review the cards.

And this time the city has a brass cylindrical bin, like those used in Bingo parlors, in which to spin and mix the cards.

Now, a handful of applicants and a swarm of reporters and photographers have gathered for the lottery.

- Chuck Plunkett reporting

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